


The Sweetheart Deal

by vintagedoxy



Category: LoveLink (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:20:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27698209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vintagedoxy/pseuds/vintagedoxy
Summary: Austin's going to do everything he can to make a deal with the devil to get the girl.
Relationships: Austin Russo/MC
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to call this "Slow and steady wins the race" but I figured it was too on the nose. I haven't written fanfiction in more than ten years and I'm a little rusty - my fanfiction.net account says I last logged in 13 years ago! All constructive criticism is absolutely welcome and encouraged. I'm also up for brainstorming ideas, constructive writers groups, and talking to any other like-minded writers (or readers!), so please feel free to find me on reddit with the same username.

**Austin:** U FUCKING BITCH. I KNEW SOMETHING WAS UP.

 **Me:** Au...stin? What’s…. Wrong wrong? 

[ _Still typing in a panic, I see bubbles appear on his side and pause]_

 **Austin:** Imma get u, u dumb bitch. Don’t think prison will stop me.

My fingers instantly stop typing and realization dawns as to whom it is that I’m speaking. A small shiver of panic runs through me and I immediately close the LoveLink app. That can’t be right, I’m sure it’s just one of the other inmates having gotten a hold of Austin’s phone. I’m overthinking it. 

My eyes readjust to my quiet bedroom and I roll over on one side, determined not to let the panic eat away at the only consistent thing in my life; sleep. As my eyes start drifting closed, I remember the game that my parents used to play when I was younger to put me to sleep.

_Warm rain showers._

_The ocean._

_The first blast of heat on a cold day._

_Sand between my toes…_

* * *

I hear a faint jingle from in my purse and look at the cashier and throw her a lopsided smile. “Sorry,” I say, reinserting my debit card, having accidentally errored out the transaction the first time around. The cashier is patient, but I can tell she’s trying not to roll her eyes at the lady who doesn’t know how to use a credit card machine. I try to work quickly by moving my fingers over the pad as fast as I can and confirm the purchase.

The machine dings in confirmation and the cashier grabs the receipt and circles something on it, before handing it to me and smiling. “Have a nice day.”

Putting the receipt in my mouth and grabbing the few grocery bags, I push my shoulder bag up my arm again and head towards the sliding glass doors. Outside, I crinkle the receipt in my now free hand and throw it in the nearby trash before rummaging around in my purse to locate my phone. I know I heard it go off while I was in line. Maybe my mother had gotten her birthday gift early. 

I’m smiling as I pick up my phone and absentmindedly swipe on the lock screen to open it. A message from LoveLink appears and then disappears just as quickly. Frowning, I open the app again and notice that I have two new messages from Austin again.

**Austin:** I’m coming 4 u, bitch. Count the days. My court date is January 2nd.

That nagging concern that I had the night before blossoms again in the pit of my stomach. Last night I had written it off as one of the other inmates having picked up Austin’s phone, but the messages seemed much too personal for that. 

My first thought was to call the police, then the FBI. Maybe moving to Tijuana wasn’t such a bad idea. I had enough savings. I could possibly make it as a translator. My Spanish was probably passable. Maybe. My thoughts raced. I stopped myself at my car, and forced myself to take a deep breath. Okay, moving to a different country isn’t going to solve anything and even if… even if this _was_ Bennie - and really, there was no proof that it was - this could just be a scare tactic. An effective one, I might add, but just a tactic nonetheless.

My fingers fumbled on the screen and immediately closed the app. I threw the phone back into my purse and forced myself to take another deep breath.

_I’m in such big dog poop.  
_

When I get home to my townhome, I rush to the kitchen and throw down all the groceries on the counter. I move to the side of the kitchen counter and start rummaging through my make-shift desk drawer for the paper calendar I keep. The calendar is in good shape and hasn’t been used all year, but I count the current days from today, November 19th, to January 2nd.

Forty-four days.

There’s a knock on my front door and I feel a chill down my spine, the blood rushing out of my face. There’s another knock, this time more insistent and I can hear the chattering of two men. “We know you’re there, ma’am. Please open the door.”

Ma’am? Please? What the hell is going on?

I walk cautiously to the door and take a quick look through the peephole. Two men, dressed in black suits, their hair slicked back, wearing sunglasses, holding dark wallets in their hands. Well, I’m obviously not crazy enough to open the door _now_. “I’ll...I’ll call the police!”

“Ma’am, we _are_ the police.’

“Yeah, right.”

The bigger of the two men, the one with blonde hair, opens the wallet in his hands and shoves it in front of the obvious peephole. There’s a picture of Mr. Policeman and “FBI” listed there. _Damn._ I unlatch the locks from the door and start to cautiously open the door when the Mr. Policeman with the black hair - the much better looking one - sighs. “It has come to our attention that you’ve been in contact with an inmate at Rikers the last couple of days.”

“I… I obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“How about we start over?” The black haired agent says, exasperated. “We’ve already seen the messages, so we know you must be scared. Can we come in?”

Before I even know what I’m doing, I’m watching the two FBI agents cross the threshold into my house and I’m inviting them to sit on my couch. The blonde haired agent, who introduces himself as Kevin, seems to be the more talkative of the two and has already attempted to ease into the conversation by apologizing for their abrupt arrival at my house.

I must be much too stuck on watching their every move and haven’t said anything for quite some time, before the black haired agent sighs again, in obvious annoyance. “Ma’am, we know this must be hard for you, but we believe that there has been a legitimate threat to your safety and we’ve been asked to…”

I have no idea why he’s stopped talking and is looking at me so awkwardly until Kevin gets up and grabs the box of tissues from the side table and hands them to me. I look down at my hands and I watch as tears splash my folded fingers before raising a hand to my mouth to hold back my cries. “I… I don’t know what’s wrong with me-” I hiccup at the two men. They are both looking at me apologetically now and the more I watch them, the more indignant that I get. _Death threats!_ _But I never… “_ You’ve been _asked to_ \--what?” Alarm bells start ringing in my head. How did they know? Why are they here? Has someone been tapping into my phone? Is Bennie’s case bigger than I had first thought?

The black haired agent scratches the back of his neck and says, “My name is Peter. I’ll be taking the first shift. You won’t even realize we’re here, but we’ll be close enough that if you ever feel that something is wrong, we’ll be nearby.” Kevin rolls his eyes at Peter and ushers him out of the house with a few words about “crying females” and a few more whispers later, I’m left alone with the blonde agent.

“Peter’s never been good at this stuff. I know it must come as a shock. You’d think with a wife and a couple’a kids he woulda eased into it by now. We been doubling for over a year - our significant others are best friends - and I swear he never lightens up.” His eyes are really kind. Before I can reply, he reaches into his pocket and pulls a flip phone out, “I’ve got something for you, though. _Just between us.”_

Perplexed by the phone, I stare at it and start to open my mouth before a few light tones ring and my curiosity gets the better of me. I flip the phone open and a familiar name appears on the screen.

**Austin:** I’m so so sorry.

I glance up at Kevin and a frown starts tightening my brow. Kevin is engaged in playing the “I don’t know what’s going on” game, whistling a little tune under his breath while he gets up and starts looking through my bookshelves, as if interested. Very slowly, I hold my breath and start typing a text back to the number in the phone saved as “AUSTIN”.

**Me:** What on earth is going on, Austin?

 **Austin:** Bennie has people. Shit. I thought I had some time before he’d find you, but I couldn’t smuggle my phone out like I had hoped to and I had no choice when I heard whispers that he had figured out what happened.

 **Me:** Choice? What are you talking about?

 **Austin:** I made a deal with the devil.

 **Me:** Austin… are you--WORKING WITH THE FBI???

 **Austin:** When the DNA matched, it immediately rang up bells in some system or something. Some undercover thing -- they had known some shit but they had never had proof. They wanted to give me a deal to get out, put Bennie away for good, and I told them I only wanted one thing.

As I’m reading the texts, my heart begins to flutter. He can’t possibly be talking about…

**Austin:** I just needed to make sure that you’re safe and taken care of.

 **Me:** Austin. OMG. What have you DONE?

 **Austin:** I’ve made sure that the most important thing to me is safe. I can’t talk long, M. I was moved to a secure facility to ensure my safety, but I’ve got to be back soon.

 **Me:** But, Austin!

 **Austin:** I’m sorry. We’ll talk more next time. I’ve got privileges now. They’re keeping their birdy real safe.

 **Me:** When will we talk again? How long is this going to last? Why aren’t you free?

I stare at the screen, willing the answers to come on the other side, but nothing appears and I know that he’s already gone. Before I get a chance to get my bearings, Kevin is next to me again and he’s smiling. “I know this must all be so much information to take in at once, but with the threat to your life and the sweetheart deal, we promised we’d watch over you just until the court date. I promise we won’t be in your life forever.”

I feel my heart exploding in pieces all over the room. I don’t even know where to start to pick them up, but the most important thing right now is that Austin is safe and we can stay in contact. Timidly, I ask, “Can… Can I keep the phone?”

Kevin smiles gently. “He has certain… privileges.” At those words, Peter comes back into the house and again, raises his arm to his neck to scratch and huffs out a long sigh. “You won’t even know we’re here. I promise.”

Obviously, I don't believe him for a moment, what with the dark sedan parked out front so conspicuously, but I hold my tongue. I don’t know anything about these men or what sweetheart deal they made with Austin and I won’t be relaxed until I can find out more from Austin.

The rest of my Saturday goes pretty smoothly and Kevin is wrong, as there is barely a time when I don’t know or think about the presence of the dark sedan parked several blocks down from my group of townhomes. I try to remind myself that this is actually a good thing and they are only trying to help. My mind goes to Austin and I smile to myself, thinking that though his luck might have been bad before, it seems things might actually be looking up for him.

After dinner, I put the dishes in the dishwasher and rinse off the few items that must be hand washed before placing them in the strainer and heading towards my bedroom. Hopefully, I can get a good night's sleep tonight without overly worrying about Bennie. Just as I’m stepping into the bathroom, thinking a nice bubble bath could soothe my nerves, I hear a text chime that doesn’t sound anything like my Android phone. I reach into my cardigan and grab the flip phone from my pocket.

**Austin:** I miss talking to you so much. What are you doing?

 **Me:** I’m just about to take a bubble bath. I’m honestly a little exhausted by everything.

 **Austin: 🔥** Do you know what those thoughts do to me?

 **Me:** No, but I’d love to hear about it.

**Austin: 😮**

A thought suddenly occurs to me, as I run my fingers over the phone screen and sit on the toilet talking to Austin. A little light teasing never hurt anyone, right? Knowing that Austin isn’t going to wait for my replies and that the silence is likely to make him anxious, I move as fast as I can off the toilet and bring the light jersey I’m wearing over my head and peel off my pants and panties. I slip into the warm water, the bubbles having taken over most of the bath by now and grab the phone from the side of the tub. I take a few shots, making sure to be as PG as possible, afraid that our Mr. FBI Agent friends might also be hacking the flip phone before pressing send on one of the pictures.

**Austin:** ….

There’s a long silence in the bathroom and I can hear the cicadas outside before I see a few bubbles pop up on the screen, indicating that Austin is typing again.

**Austin:** WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

Well, that was not the response that I was expecting from that message. I frown at the text and start to write back before I see the indicator bubbles appear again.

**Austin:** Jesus. Now they have a picture of my woman, almost naked. What are you trying to do to me?

 **Me:** Are you jealous that some FBI agents might see my bare shoulders and feet in a bathtub?

 **Austin:** ….

 **Austin:** Don’t do that again.

 **Me:** Well, that was an interesting response. You’re awfully cute when you’re jealous.

 **Austin:** I’m not kidding around here.

 **Me:** Well, then I think you need to give me something to make sure that I’m good for you.

 **Austin:** Shit, first Bennie and now some FBI fucks.

 **Me:** Yeah, but it’s only your face I’ll be seeing later when I’m in bed.

 **Austin:** I wanted to wait and surprise you, but I guess I don’t have a choice. I’ll be out tomorrow.

I’m pretty sure the room was spinning. That lamp used to be by the sink, right? And the toilet and the bath didn’t used to feel so far away from each other. I can feel my heart bursting through my chest and all I can think about is finally seeing Austin in person. Trying to up the ante on that one will be hard.

**Me:** And you weren’t going to tell me!?

 **Austin:** I wanted to surprise you, but then you have to go and do something… Fuck. That picture. You know there’s no privacy in here.

 **Me:** That’s okay, just hold that thought and I’ll make it all better… tomorrow.

 **Austin:** We’re going to have a long conversation about your teasing.

 **Me:** Are we? I can’t wait.

 **Austin:** Shit, I have to go back to my cell before someone notices that I’m gone again. Wait for me.


	2. Chapter 2

Sleep eluded me, despite my best attempts at trying to put my mind at ease. At one point during the evening, I took a couple of melatonin jellies that I sometimes keep stashed away, but my anxiety is too high and my mind has been racing for hours. I end up grabbing my e-reader and thumbing through a few pages of a book I had started several months ago. It was some erotica I had picked up when it became clear to me that I wasn’t interested in casual flings any longer.

When I had started talking to Austin.

I re-read the same paragraph on the page and realize that it’s a sex scene about an office worker and her CEO. As my mind snaps back to the book, I find my interest finally taken hold and thoughts of Austin slowly start to take a backseat as I read more.

The phone on the nightstand makes an incessantly annoying ring that I don’t remember having set up and I blink a few times before realizing that it’s the flip phone I got from Kevin.  _ Austin _ . I glance at the digital clock that reads 10:00 AM and my heart skips a beat. I flip the phone open looking for a text and from the other line I hear, “Hello?”

My throat, of course, chooses that moment to dry out and I barely squeak out, “Austin?” His voice is deep and has a slight New Yorker accent. When he hears my humiliating response, he chuckles.

“Did you sleep well, little tease?” I could hear the laughter in the question, but my body is so sluggish from half-sleep and not having had coffee, that I don’t have a quick enough response before he mutters something about the FBI and driving to my house. “They’re telling me they can’t take me to see you today.”

“WHAT?” I nearly scream into the phone, the last of my half-awake state having disappeared with those heart wrenching words. I try to calm down before I speak again and manage to mutter, “What’s their problem?” 

Instead of getting an answer from Austin, I hear the phone shuffling around and I hear an unfamiliar voice on the other end, female, tell me, “I apologize that this hasn’t been better explained to you. It’s better that Austin stay in the safe house while we get things with the case sorted out. You will have an opportunity to see him once the case is over, on January third.”

My temper is rising and I can hear Austin cursing in the background about how this wasn’t part of the deal. Nearly a month and a half! There was no way that this was happening. With a calm clarity that I was not feeling, I extended my regrets into the phone, “I’m sorry that you feel that my house isn’t safe, but how much more safe do you think it’s going to be when either myself or Austin figure out how to sneak past your security to see each other?”

I can almost hear the eye roll on the other end of the line when the lady interjects, “This isn’t some television show, you know. You’re risking your life by being near Austin. If you and Austin have some falling out because the sex isn’t good or you broke a nail and he isn’t nice enough, he can’t just be  _ moved on a whim.  _ Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“What I  _ understand  _ is that the two agents outside my residence have probably already secured my location, so I’m not sure why we’re having this conversation. You guys already knew that Austin was going to want to come to my house and those agents had nothing to do with making sure that  _ I  _ was  _ secure _ , despite what you’ve told him. Sweetheart deal, whatever. I understand very well that this isn’t a game, and Austin belongs here. With me.” I hold my breath thinking that if this last bit of bravado doesn’t seem to win her over, I have no other recourse than to start learning how to break into an FBI safehouse. Simple.

My mind is racing, and I can feel my heart rate speeding up before I hear a loud shuffling on the other side of the phone, as though it had been thrown. Before I can ask what’s going on, Austin says, “I’ll see you shortly,” and hangs up the phone.

Despite my sleep-deprived state, I run to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth before high-tailing it to my kitchen to start some breakfast. I remember a conversation Austin and I had had once about the food in prison and I briefly consider ordering us something amazing from one of the places nearby, before throwing the idea out in favor of a home cooked meal. As I’m pre-heating the oven, I hear a knock on the door and frown. Since the phone call, I can’t imagine that it’s been more than ten minutes.

I take a look through the peephole and Kevin has a box of donuts and a wide, dumb grin on his face. I open the door and put my hands on my hips, about to refuse the sweet concoctions before he pushes inside past me, unapologetically. “You know we checked up on you, right?” He sets the box of donuts down on the kitchen counter as he turns around I can see that the stupid grin is still on his face, but his eyes are serious.

“Yeah? Find anything interesting?” I can feel a lump in my throat, but I swallow hard to avoid sounding like this is a big deal.

“I’m going to take it you haven’t told Austin who your father is.” I snap my teeth together in anger and count to five in my head. Even if it mattered, I’m not my father. I try to repeat the line in my head and stop myself from grinding my teeth further. Kevin shrugs his shoulders. “Not my problem, but considering who your father is, you should know the risks.” Kevin reaches back into the box of donuts and takes an eclair before heading towards the door. He’s waving his crumby fingers in a half salute before shutting the door and jogging back to the differently-colored dark sedan parked a few doors down now.

I take a deep breath and head back to the kitchen to arrange the food to prepare for our breakfast. It isn’t surprising that the FBI looked into who I am and what I do, or even my closest living family, but it is surprising that it wasn’t done earlier. I can bet that the only reason that they’re allowing Austin to stay here is because of my father. I eye the biscuits on the cookie sheet and make a decision. I grab my phone and the business card that Peter handed me after settling in last night. Unsurprisingly, Kevin picks up, “Yo.”

“What do you want?”

* * *

The aroma in the house says delicious, homemade breakfast with a cut fruit bowl, but the donuts in that infuriating box that Kevin brought over are a temptation in and of themselves. Before I have a chance to decide that I don’t want any of the breakfast that I painstakingly made for Austin and I, I hear the doorbell ring and my heart leaps. Forgetting for a moment that I’m covered in flour and probably look like a train wreck, I slide in my socks on the hardwood floor to the front door and trip on one of the million cat toys, landing right on my bottom before yelping, “Ouch!”

The front door swings open in a hurry and for a brief moment I see panic in Austin’s eyes before the realization that I’m a klutz hits him. Austin laughs in my face before offering me a hand, to which I grudgingly accept before stepping on his foot to emphasize my displeasure. Of course, this makes Austin chuckle more before he grabs my waist and stands me in an upright position. Austin is six feet-something inches and none of the pictures sent seem to do him any justice. The way his beautiful blue eyes stand in contrast to his black hair, or even just the breadth of him standing in front of me. I’m just about to say something when he sneaks past me into the house and hurries towards the kitchen. “Whatever that smell is, the answer is yes.”

As I close the front door, I cautiously walk back to the kitchen and say, “I hope you’re ready for homemade breakfast. Biscuits, sausage, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, and I cut up some fruit for after.” Austin’s looking at the food like he hasn’t eaten in ages and grabs the chair at the island closest to the oven and sits down. Trying not to be disheartened by his lack of enthusiasm for me, I grab the last bowl from the microwave where it was residing to stay warm and place it in front of Austin’s plate. “Please,” I indicate towards the bowls of food before going to the chair next to him and sitting down.

We pass breakfast talking about everything and we fall into an easy repartee with one another. Austin is, unsurprisingly, very easy to talk to and has a way with making anyone feel very comfortable. Of course, I do manage to sneak in some of my more adventurous comments but I honestly can’t tell whether they’re appreciated or not as it seems to never really stymie our conversations. As soon as Austin stepped into my house, I was physically aware of his presence, but it doesn’t look like he’s felt the same. My cheeks turned several different shades of pink, flushing, when he’d accidentally brushed against me at the table, or when his leg bumped into mine under the counter. Austin would turn to look at me, apologize, and I could swear he noticed my flushed neck and the way that I was constantly biting my lip, but he never commented nor made a move.

Maybe the chemistry wasn’t the same for him, as it was for me. Readjusting my expectations, I told myself that seven years in prison could just mean he wants to take things slowly. Slow could be good. Slow was fine. 

Slow… was probably going to kill me.


	3. Austin

As soon as I opened the door to find her rubbing her backside in discomfort from falling, I knew I was in trouble and then the smell hit me. I hadn’t had a good breakfast in seven years and while all I really wanted to do was rip her clothes off and take her on her front porch with the damn FBI twats watching, I figured I could at least act like half a gentleman and take it slowly. That’s when she’d given me those big doe eyes like I had just murdered her puppy and I  _ knew _ I was done for. She seems to catch up pretty quickly and doesn’t miss a beat, even if breakfast wasn’t the first thing so obviously on her mind this morning.

At first, I had just leaned over to grab the potatoes and my arm had just accidentally brushed against her. I watched with some amusement as her neck flushed and she covered a groan with a cough. All the subsequent times, my leg knocking into hers, my hand grabbing the butter at the same time, my arm brushing against her chest - those had not been accidents. When her nipples had hardened perceptibly through her shirt, I thought for sure she was going to call me out on my game, but each time, she resolved herself to biting her lip and putting on a cheery smile. I placated her by apologizing and mostly acting trite. She apparently fell for this act, hook, line, and sinker.

By the time breakfast was over, I hadn’t quite yet finished playing this game with her, not after the picture and the teasing she’d been doing to me over chat the last few months. She was in front of the sink, washing dishes, and had taken to humming to herself. It had been so long since I had had a moment's peace anywhere, so I took in the scene and just sat quietly at the counter behind her. As she was drying and putting the dishes away, I noticed that she had angled her body to reach a particular height that seemed difficult for her to reach. I moved away from my spot at the island to walk over to her and grab the bowl from her hand.

It was on purpose that I had her body trapped between the counter and mine. The top of her head barely reached my shoulders and she put her hands up in front of her to steady herself, as I pushed hard into her to lean her back and reach the shelf in question. After positioning the dish on the shelf, I glance down and try not to laugh at the look on her face before stepping back and raising my hands in apology, “Oh, sorry. It’s been awhile since I’ve had to remember my manners.” Her eyes flutter close for just a moment before she shrugs and tells me not to worry about it and turns back towards the sink. I watch from behind her as her nails dig forcefully into the kitchen counter and she steadies her breathing. 

When she suggests that we play some games together, I’m amused and a little disappointed at this point that she hasn’t called out my antics, but I’m thinking that games could probably turn into something more interesting if the intention is there. “Let’s do something fun, like strip poker. I haven’t played cards in so long, I’m not even sure I remember how to bridge properly.”

She looks a little taken aback at the suggestion, but smiles and goes to an older antique desk in the corner of her living room and pulls open the latch before rummaging through a few smaller drawers for the cards. She closes the latch on the desk and walks back over, handing me a well-used desk of cards and asks me to shuffle them. “I don’t play poker, though, sorry. Do you know how to play gin rummy?” I smile at her and nod my head. Before I can say anything, she pipes up, “One piece of clothing per lost game? How about we make it interesting and let the  _ other player _ pick which piece of clothing is coming off?”

This is the second time in the span of a few hours that I’ve noticed that I love the way her mind works. “Sure, do you want to cut?” I place the deck of cards on the table and indicate towards it. She shakes her head vigorously and I grab a stack of cards and deal eleven to her and ten to me before putting the cards back on the table between us. Despite her attempts at misdirection of her cards, I quickly gather gin and call the game. She puts her cards on the table and I grin at her: there’s a pair of aces and a couple of sixes. I take my thirty-nine points and she scribbles it down on her scratch paper. 

“I want your bra, on the table, please.” She looks like she’s about to protest, but thinks twice and unhooks her bra in the back. I watch in amusement as she pulls an arm out of each strap and then pulls the bra through one arm of her shirt. She throws the bra on the table and I see that it’s a black, lacy see through bra with a red bowtie on the front. Instead of saying anything, however, she grabs the cards and quickly shuffles them for the next round before she starts handing them out. I discard a higher card and ask her if she wants to use knock rules. 

She considers the suggestion and looks at the king of hearts on the table before saying, “Sure.” Man, I love a smart woman. Especially one who could play me in gin rummy. 

I could teach her poker later. 

When she loses another hand of gin, I can see the wheels turning in her head and she’s about to say something when I press her with, “I want those pants, first, please.” I try not to sound like the dying man that I am, but the frown on her face told me she might be on to my game at this point. She gets up from the table and hooks her thumbs under each side of her leggings before sliding them over her legs and stepping out of them.

She’s not wearing panties. Her mons has only a puff of hair where she obviously keeps it well trimmed and the rest of her is completely bare. I groan out loud and catch her surprised look. “You are far more innocent than you let on in texts.” As I’m saying this, I’m standing up to wrap an arm around her waist before she sits back down on the floor. When I capture her in my arms, I rest my head at the juncture between her shoulder and neck and breath in her scent. I can’t even remember the last time that I was able to hold a person to me like this, even before I went to prison. Bennie had taken so much from me, but the ability to connect with another human being like this was my undoing. She raises her arms to wrap them around my neck and sighs.

“You know, I was starting to think that maybe we didn’t have the chemistry like we did via texting.” She’s whispering in my ear and rubbing a hand softly down my back, as if reassuring me. Before she can protest, I grab her under her backside and lift her up to make her wrap her legs around my waist. Lifting my head up from her, I stare at her lips and see that she’s been worrying her bottom lip between her teeth again. I gently lean down and nip at her lips and she groans in pleasure. As I’m tasting her lips with soft nibbles, I suckle her bottom lip into my mouth and she responds by opening her mouth wider to gasp. I take the opportunity to slide my tongue inside her mouth and gently explore the crevices. By the end, she’s sucking on my tongue and I place gentle kisses down the side of her face and neck to her shoulder before nipping at her skin. I watch the skin turn red where I’ve grasped it between my teeth and lick the spot before blowing on it. As I watch, her skin pimples and I groan again. Before my mouth takes hers again, I climb the stairs with her in tow and ask her to indicate her bedroom down the hallway.


	4. Chapter 4

Austin’s asking me which door leads to my bedroom and while my brain knows, I am having a hard time extracting my body long enough to be able to respond to his question. I finally point with one of my hands and he uses his foot to open the door and walk inside. I haven’t taken my legs from around his waist and he doesn’t seem to mind, carrying me to the bed and setting me atop the duvet. His mouth, however, never leaves mine and he does this amazing thing with his tongue and his lips that makes me crazy. He’s sucking on my tongue one moment and in another he’s biting my bottom lip just hard enough to elicit a tingling sensation and I can feel my body temperature rise.

He only briefly stops devouring me so that he can lift his shirt over his head. The smug grin on his face only comes after he hears the groan from low in my throat at the action. I want to roll my eyes at him, but I’ve told him on multiple occasions how hot I find him and, at this point, all I want to do is spread my hands over his chest and feel how hard he really is. As I’m about to do that, however, he extracts himself from my grip and leans down to my waist to take the bottom of my shirt in his hands and he finally, finally, takes off the last piece of clothing that I’m wearing. I watch the shirt get thrown into a pile on the floor before I notice the look he’s giving my breasts. Like a starving man.

He gently cups one of my breasts in his hand and uses the other to trace around the outside of my areola, making very sure that he’s not touching any sensitive area on my breast. I squirm under his grasp and beg him, “Austin, _please_.”

He looks up at me and shakes his head, “No way. I have to make up for _months_ of teasing.” He doesn’t look the least bit apologetic as he lets go of one breast to grab the other to play the same game. His finger circles around the sensitive area, but never quite makes it to my hardened nipple and I’m pretty sure I’m going to die when he leans down to my breast and slowly runs his tongue around the same path as his finger. He repeats the process with his mouth on the other breast and as he’s cupping it gently, he squeezes the fullness of it before I start a litany of begging and cursing. Laughing at my pleas, he finally leans over my right breast and takes a swipe at the nipple there, with his tongue. It instantly comes back to life and pebbles before he blows on it, repeating the same motion with my other breast. I’m thinking of all the ways in which I could have him begging, underneath me, before he grabs my nipple between his teeth and tugs softly.

My hands immediately cling to his hair, to try to keep him there, but the gesture isn’t needed, as he bites and sucks on my nipple, blowing on the peak again before switching to the other breast to do the same. I’m sure that I might come from his mouth on my breasts and he looks up at me and I can see that smug grin across his face again. He knows I’m close.

Frustratingly, he leaves my breasts to place more soft kisses along my chest and down to my navel. He’s between my legs, standing at the bed leaned over me, and as he’s kissing his way down my body to my inner thigh, he reaches up and pushes me down into the bed at my chest and gets on his knees. Leaning back into the bed, I bite my lip, aware that he is now only a breath away from the most sensitive area of my body. However, instead of taking me into his mouth, he blows down my center lightly and resumes his kisses down my legs. I let out a frustrated sob and fist my hands by my side, determined not to beg him any further. When he reaches my kneecap, he makes a slow circle back up my thigh and resumes the torturous blowing and places a kiss on my mons, before going right back for my navel. I dig my hands into the sheets and moan in defeat, “Au-Austin… please, please. Oh, please.” At this point I am out of my mind and I’m not sure what sounds I had formulated to make him continue, but he looks up, only to grin at me.

“There are just some things you can’t rush, baby,” but even with those words, he leans back down to my mons and takes a long, languid swipe at my slits and the world explodes. My legs instinctively rise to bend at my knees, my toes curl, and I gasp out breaths, my body shaking slightly. Austin doesn’t miss a beat and grabs my legs and starts massaging my calves back down into a lying position. “Did you just come from a single taste? You have no patience at all.” He laughs and I’m sure that this is the sweetest sound I’ve heard from him yet. At his comment, I try to sit up on the bed, thinking that I’d give him a taste of his own medicine, but Austin’s firm grip on my legs and the hand stationed on my sternum keeps me positioned flat on my back while he goes back down between my legs and onto his knees on the side of the bed.

This time, he doesn’t take his time and gently sucks my nub into his mouth, his finger slowly tracing my entrance. The wetter I get, the farther his finger slips into me before he adjusts his finger into a come-hither gesture. He must be able to tell that I’ve hit my breaking point, because this time when I’m about to come for a second time, he pulls his finger out and releases me from his mouth before sliding up my body to present his finger to me. “Suck, miss impatient.” Following his direction, I slowly slide the finger in my mouth and watch him intently. His eyes are following my mouth closely and as I rub my tongue on the underside of his finger I can see the desire spread like fire in his eyes. I’m determined that it’s time to get this back on track. He can’t just boss me around and not expect that I can play dirty, too.

Something in my eyes must have given away my thoughts, because Austin is back to chuckling at me. Instead of taking the finger out of my mouth, however, he leans down to my ear and says roughly, “You can have your turn when I’m done making up for the last few months of your fucking teasing.” His finger coming out of my mouth makes a POP! sound before he presses a sweet kiss to my lips and takes his wet hand and runs it down my body. I watch as he closes his eyes briefly and then comes back to me, an apology deep in his throat, “Next time we’ll go slower.” _Next time? Slower?_ I might die if he takes things any more slowly. I think I have the gist of what he’s saying, before I hear a rustling and I can hear his pants falling to his feet. He glides a hand around my back before lifting me to him and coming to a sitting position on the bed, my legs bent on either side of him.

I’m muttering curses about his teasing and he’s shuffling around in my nightstand with one hand, his hot mouth plastered to my left breast. He’s taken my nipple into his mouth again and I’m trying to rearrange my position to see more of everything, but this is apparently not in the cards for me. I can’t even get a good look at him or whether or not he’s wearing underwear before his bites my nipple and hooks his arm under my bottom again to raise me up before he--

 _Jesus christ_.

In one fluid motion, he has lifted my body up, only to set me down on his cock, the head sliding into my entrance, spurred on by the enveloping wetness it finds there. _Well, definitely no underwear_ . I gasp at the feeling of fullness before he groans and rests his head between my breasts. “This wasn’t what I had in mind for you, damnit.” With those words, he yanks my body fully onto him and the feeling of him fully seated inside me makes me scream his name. "Austin!" With one arm still wrapped around me, he reaches between us and flicks the nub there between my folds as I dig my nails into his shoulders, throwing my head back in pleasure. He’s taken to leaning over and sucking one of my earlobes into his mouth, his firm grasp still the indicator of how fast and how much of me is on his cock. I’m about to fly over the edge again for the second time, when he stops flicking my clit to sneak his other arm around my waist before smacking a hand across my backside. The intensity of the spanking and the feel of him thrusting inside me is my undoing. I wrap my arms around his neck and let out a groan, “Yes, _oh_ ,” before coming completely undone in his arms. He isn’t long behind me, as he makes one last thrust and yanks my body to him before he bites down on my shoulder, leaving his mark.

A few moments later, I’m content, and trying to arrange myself comfortably on top of him to take in the moment, when I feel Austin lock his arms around my waist and lift me off of him, only to deposit me back on the bed, facing away from him, towards the opposite end of the room. He couldn’t possibly be playing shy at this point, could he? Before I have a moment to think about what it is, exactly, that he thinks he’s doing, I feel another smack across my ass and let out a loud yelp before I start to rise up on my arms to turn around and look at him. Another smack across my ass before he growls at me, “Eyes straight, baby. You haven’t had nearly enough punishment for that picture or those months of fucking with me.” He pushes his hand roughly on the back of my neck and forces my face down into the bed, and I feel my ass jutting out in front of him, as he stands next to the bed, his for the taking. I’m trying to manage a protest to the unfair spanking, when I feel another thwack across my bottom before he spreads my legs apart in front of him at my bent knees. For a long moment I hold my breath unsure what the intent here is before I feel him run a finger down my wet center but, just as quickly, he removes his hand to offer me another slap across my ass. For a brief moment the pain intermingles with my heavy arousal and I can feel myself become wetter. Noticing my arousal and more of the wetness coming from my lips, Austin grates out, “You like that, don’t you, baby? This was supposed to be a punishment, but you’re enjoying this! Though I guess I should have expected that from you.”

I always tried to stay true to who I was when I am intimate with someone else and I never held anything back when Austin and I were chatting on LoveLink. I teased him mercilessly because I had hopes that that was how our bedroom scenes would turn out. Even so and, based on everything that Austin had already shared about himself, I should have seen this coming. Austin was not a man to be taken lightly and made no qualms with expressing how he truly felt to me, even in chat. I barely have time to ponder our chats before Austin tells me in his sweet, laughing voice, that he wants to hear me beg for it. My face flushes in excitement at the thought. Austin groans a little when I get up from my position to sit on my knees, folding my legs underneath my body at the edge of the bed. I’m just about to reach for his body, when he backs up and shakes his head at me, “I didn’t say you could touch me, I said I want you to beg me for it.”

I immediately understand what he’s asking for and pull my legs out from under me before I raise them to my shoulders, bending them to expose myself to him. Austin is watching me attentively before I lick my lips absentmindedly. I run a hand down the bottom of my leg and let out a sigh of pleasure. When my hand makes a light trail all the way to my mons, I stop and look back up at Austin. He’s gripped his big cock in his hand and is fisting it in front of me. I can feel my breathing speed up when I whimper out to him, “Let’s stop now, Austin. I-I promise I’ll be good.” His eyes dart up to my face and he watches me as I take a long look at him stroking himself in front of me. It doesn’t take long before he mutters something under his breath, but doesn’t move a muscle. Annoyed at this game and ready for my prize, I slip my middle finger down to my entrance and insert it fully, my palm cupping my mound before I slip it back out and insert two fingers. Austin is thrusting his cock in his hand so hard that I’m sure he’s going to come all over me at any second and the thought catches me off-guard so much so that I forget for a moment that I’m supposed to be putting on a show for him. I slam my fingers into my core and desperately try to reach my sweet spot. Before I know what’s happening, I’m falling back on the bed by myself, my legs coming down to bend my knees.

A sound catches in my throat before I’m pushed off the cliff and falling over the edge, and I could swear I distinctly hear a shout before Austin falls down on the bed next to me.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Rope/restraint

When I awoke a little later, I opened my eyes to find that I was under the covers with a pair of arms wrapped around me. Last I could recall, the both of us had collapsed on top of the covers and fallen asleep. At some point, I guessed, Austin had moved us under the sheets and wrapped his big body around me, tightening his grip around my waist. The small gesture was comforting, like we were in our own little world. I absentmindedly rubbed my hands over his, thinking about how far we’d come in such a short time when I heard rustling behind me. It was obvious that he had woken when I felt a light kiss at the juncture of my neck and the arms, once so tightly wrapped around, had let go of me to stretch, my legs becoming entwined with his.

“Shit, that was not the plan for you.” He nuzzled my neck again with his face and sighed.

“You keep saying that, but I think our plan worked out just fine.” Austin kept rubbing his face against my neck and it sent shivers down my spine. Before I could say anything else, however, he stretched again.

“Breakfast was amazing, thank you. I don’t remember the last time I had breakfast made for me.” Austin was back to nuzzling my neck before I heard my cell phone go off somewhere downstairs.

“Shit,” I exclaim, scrambling out of bed to run down the stairs to grab the call. As my feet hit the main floor, I sprint towards the coffee table and grab my phone where I see “LUDIA CO” flashing across the screen. As I’m swiping on the call to accept, I see movement out of the corner of my eye and turn around to scream before I see a head of black hair and a man in a suit put up his hands in front of him. Realizing a second too late who it was that was standing in my living room, Austin barrels down the stairs, my bedside lamp in his hand, poised to attack.

On the other end of the phone, I hear, “Hello?” just as Austin runs over to me and shields me from the FBI agent. Momentarily stunned, I rush to put the phone against my ear and reply, apologizing for the commotion and making up a story about a spider on the floor. 

When the call is done, Austin is still in front of me and my attempts to move him from my path have failed. I sigh, agitated, before giving a push and asking that he move out of my way. Austin turns around and makes a pointed look downwards several times before I realize that in my haste to grab my phone, I ran downstairs without any clothing, flashing my body towards the FBI agent who had intruded. My face flushes and I realize that Austin had at least had time to throw his boxers on before charging downstairs. Irate from my phone call and embarrassed that Kevin had caught me naked, I snapped, “What are you doing in my house, Agent?”

Kevin coughed and seemed genuinely embarrassed before saying, “We had a legitimate threat to your safety and I was asked to move inside the house. You uh… were busy, and I decided it was probably not the time to mention it.” During his explanation, Austin had turned back around and crossed his arms over his chest. It was obvious that Kevin had been in the house for quite a bit and had heard more than enough from upstairs to know to wait.

_ Well, chalk my misery up to ten and move on _ . Not only had the agent been in the living room while I had hurtled myself, naked, downstairs he had almost had a front row seat to our reunion in the bedroom. At this point, I was sure that I would never be able to look him in the eye again. Austin, however, didn’t seem the least bit interested as he inquired, “And you thought just walking in and making yourself at home was somehow okay?” I could feel the anger coming off of Austin and thought that I had better move the topic quickly before he did something that we would both regret.

“Listen, the moment she gave permission to use her house as a haven for you, she knew what that entailed. She might not have told you, but privacy isn’t a concern to us when someone’s life is threatened and a federal case like this is up. I received a call about two hours ago that there was a legitimate safety concern for  _ her _ ,” Kevin looked pointedly at me, “and was told that plans had changed. I was asked to move inside the house for now and monitor the situation. Peter will be here tomorrow morning to pick up the shift.” Something about this entire situation smelled, but I couldn’t place my finger on it and Austin wasn’t budging, so I couldn’t even read Kevin’s face to find the answers I was looking for.

My phone buzzed again in my hand. A text message.

**Andrew:** 90042.

My stomach dropped.  _ Shit, he knows. _ Our old zip code was only for emergencies. Some time ago, when my father had accepted his -  _ position  _ \- we had set up an internal code system that only he and I would be able to crack. Zip codes represented short signals or phrases we had predetermined and memorized.

Thinking that I have literal moments before I receive a phone call - or even worse,  _ Kevin  _ does, my fingers fly over the keypad.

**Me:** 90042.

I’m trying to indicate to him that everything is fine, but I estimate that I have one, maybe two days before I receive a phone call demanding answers. I was harboring a prior convicted felon. One who had been on death row. I hold my breath for a moment as I see the indicator bubbles appear on my phone again.

**Andrew:** 00000.

I let out a little yelp and Austin turns around to me, a frown on his features as I hold my phone and bite my lip so hard I tear the skin. As my bottom lip stains red, I hear Kevin behind Austin muttering something about giving us a moment and the front door opens and closes. I quickly clear my phone and see Austin’s eyes go to my lips before picking me up and hauling me off to the kitchen, much like a sack of potatoes. He sets me down on the countertop and grabs a paper towel, soaking it with water from the faucet before bringing it to my lip and pressing, hard. “Jesus, but you’re clumsy.”

I’m nothing if not grateful that he hasn’t noticed the texts from my father, or that he hasn’t asked why I’m biting my lip so hard. I chalk it up to the concern of Kevin being in my house that maybe he hasn’t realized. The last thing that I want to do here is lie, but I haven’t even had time to process everything yet and figure out the best way to tell Austin. I also had hoped that I would have more time before the real world intruded on our time together.

__ _ I should have known better _ .

Austin wets the piece of paper towel that he’s grabbed and pushes it to my bottom lip. I glance at him from underneath my hooded lashes and the intent look on his face makes me want to touch him again. I run my hands up from the counter top to his sides, gently, and wrap my arms slowly around his neck. “Why are you so wonderful?”

Austin looks up at my eyes from my lip and smiles at me before he says, “I don’t think anyone has ever accused me of being wonderful before, but it must be that you bring it out in me.” When he’s satisfied that the bleeding has stopped, he kisses my jaw and wraps his arms around my waist again. “What would you like to do today?”

I roll my eyes at him. I can think of all kinds of things I would like to be doing with him today, but I assume because the FBI agents were making camp inside my house now that those things were off the table. I sigh, dramatically, before whining, “Ugh, fucking assholes.”

Austin laughs and presses his mouth to my ear before whispering, “Baby, if you want to put on a show for them, we can. I just thought I’d give you a choice.” His warm breath and his hands coaxing my thighs apart to stand closer to me set my mind back on the other things that we could be doing. Before I can agree, Austin growls out, “If we had my way, I’d have fucked you on your porch while they watched, until you screamed my name.”

I roll my eyes at him again and laugh, “I thought you once said you’d submit to me?”

Austin leaned back from me and smiled, predatorily, before saying, “Sure, doll. In the context of our conversation, I said I’d submit to you. Is that what you want?” I’m frowning at him, trying to recall the conversation that we had had concerning his submission to me, but his warm hands on my thighs and his breath on my sensitive, tingling ear has distracted me too much. As if noticing my inability to answer, Austin steps back and raises his hands in front of him. “Ball’s in your court.”

I narrow my eyes at him and jump down from the counter, before grabbing his arm and heading for the stairs. The front door opens again and Austin takes a side step to make sure that his big body covers mine before he starts pushing me to go faster up the stairs, not giving Kevin a chance to say anything. When we get to my room and he closes the door behind him, I cross my arms over my chest and tell him, “I’m not… I’m not comfortable with him being in the house.”

“Well, you’ll just have to keep it down.”

At the use of the pronoun, I glare at him and sputter out, “ _ Just me! _ You’re the one that roars like a damn lion after he finishes.”

Austin laughs and shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah, but I don’t care if he knows what we’re doing.” As he’s laying out on the bed he pats the spot next to him and says, “Come on now, you’re not chicken are you? You sure did talk big all those days on LoveLink.”

I stalk over to the bed, my hands on my hips and look angrily down at his relaxed form. I take the time to take a good look at his body, having never had the chance in person before. His eyes are closed, so I’m unable to see the deep blue that I love so much, but his face is relaxed, even softened. I watch as his hands come up to cup the backside of his head as he gets comfortable next to me on the bed and I watch as the muscles in his arm flex. For the first time, I see the underside of his tattoo sleeve and my mind brings up all kinds of ideas of tying him up and forcing him to do my bidding. As if he can sense what it is I’m thinking, his mouth curves into a smile and I watch his chest rumble with a laugh. I instinctively react by taunting him, “You couldn’t handle what it is I offer!”

I watch as his shoulders move in a shrug and he breaks out in a smile. Even though his eyes are closed, the muscles in his face are soft, and the crinkles tell me that he finds this wholly amusing. I’ve stopped thinking about Kevin downstairs when I rummage around under my bed in a black sack that I keep there for certain purposes and pull out shibari rope. As I’m standing back up with the bright red rope in my hand I see Austin crack one eye open and watch me carefully.  _ Shit, I have no idea what I’m doing.  _ I’ve only ever had shibari used on me, not the other way around. I talk a big game, and I’m betting Austin knows that.

Determined not to be cowed, I unwrap the rope and split it in equal portions with slack enough to tie both his hands and his feet separately. Austin’s big body has not moved from the bed, but he has opened both of his eyes to watch me, curiously. Thinking back to girl scouts, I tie a less-sturdy version of a knot around his hands behind his head and unfurl the rope towards his feet, before I think better of it and leave his feet as they are. I hesitate only a brief moment and then crawl up on the bed with him, straddling his chest, careful not to get too close to the lower half of his body. Austin raises his eyebrows at me, but still says nothing. I run my hands down his chest and trace where his tattoo sleeve meets his shoulder. I wonder absently if he notices my breath quickening or if he can feel how hot my sex is above his abdomen.

There’s an easy way out of this predicament that I’ve found myself in and I’m not embarrassed at all to take it out of my arsenal for use. As I shoot daggers with my eyes down at the relaxed body underneath me, I quickly get up on my knees and clutch the edge of the bed before spinning around on top of him and straddling his face, my hands grabbing his boxers with force and yanking them down to his knees.

“Nice try,” he says, as he tears through the rope at his hands to give my ass a quick strike to then grip my hips and pull me down onto his face. 

My body was not prepared for him to go for me so quickly before I got his cock into my mouth. As my back arches my eyes go wide, I let out a quick gasp and try to cover the sounds I’m making as he nips and licks at my clit. I can feel his chest rumbling under my hands and before I can contemplate what it is he’s laughing about, he runs a finger down my backside, between my cheeks and my face flushes hot. The sensations are overwhelming and I’m trying to lean over to either grab onto him or a pillow to quiet the noises that I’m making, but he’s grabbing my body and holding me still. With another languid twirl of his tongue on my clit, he lets his finger slide down my perineum. There is a sensation of blazing heat that tears through my body and I’m back to biting my lip and covering my mouth to keep quiet, but Austin takes his hands from my body and pushes them down on either side of him to hold me in place.

That’s when I understand what it is he’s trying to do. As I get closer to my orgasm, I try to move my body out of his face by leaning my chest down to his lap and arching my backside upwards. I have a moment of reprieve when Austin doesn’t expect me to squirm away before he lets go of my hands to then grab me around my waist and again hoist me like a sack of potatoes across the room. He grabs the door handle to swing open the door and then lifts me from him to place me against the wall right next to it. Before he bends his knees to the floor, I see the glint in his eyes as he runs his hand, palm down, across my stomach down to my mons. Once in position between my legs, his eyes lock on to mine and he pushes his hand against me to keep me in place, his mouth placing light kisses at and around my labia. I’m groaning and trying to move my body just several inches to grab the door with the tip of my foot when he slides a finger inside me and starts sucking on my clit again. I quickly look down at him and watch the finger slide easily in and out and his mouth makes a delicious meal out of my sex before the orgasm hits me. My knees buckle to Austin’s shoulders and I throw my head back against the wall, but I catch my mouth behind my hand and whimper out the rest of my orgasm demurely.

Austin’s eyebrows raise and I can see the wheels turning in his head. Shaking my head, I push on his shoulders, trying to dislodge him from me but he isn’t moving. Instead, he stands up and heads towards the bed, grabbing the small sack of items that I took out earlier. Too exhausted from the intensity of that last orgasm, I grab the door and shut it quickly before sinking down to the floor and resting my head against the wall. I’m thinking of all manner of verbal reproach when Austin sees something in the bag that intrigues him and he stuffs it in his hand and holds it behind him. “You are a troublemaker, Austin Russo!”

He looks at me, unapologetically, before he squats down to me on the floor and laughs, “I thought we established this already. We haven’t even begun with the fun part yet, baby.” He places the two items that he grabbed out of my little black bag in front of me and leans over to kiss my neck, making his way to my ear before whispering, “Bad girl.”

My eyes widen at the two items laid out before me.

_ Uh oh _ .


End file.
